NYC Summer Sublets

To say that my first few days were stressful in the city would be an understatement. I am (finally) excited to say that I found a great summer sublet in NYC in the West Village (my favorite area) with a girl that in the 5 minutes we talked seemed very normal!

It seems that many people leave NYC for the summer so it should be easy to find a sublet right? WRONG. Many people (like myself) also come to the city in the summer as well, so it is highly competitive to find a place.

I used Craigslist and while in London I emailed several people and set-up showings. In the 3 days between setting them up I figured that they would still be free right? No. Subletting in the summer in NYC happens lightening fast.

I had to check Craigslist several times a day to send emails and scour for places to send an email before someone else snatched it up and saw it before me.

Looking at places and running all over the city was stressful enough, but then you also had to make a decision on the spot about whether or not you wanted the room. A snap decision had to be made if the person seemed like they liked you, or by the time you decided that you wanted the room, it would be gone. This happened to me more than once. Quite stressful for the most indecisive person alive and when every place had a huge downside- this is NYC after all.

Some places had no windows in the room, one I would have lived alone, one was with a woman in her 30s that seemed high strung and had a big stuffed dog in the room (weird right?) and one was with a man in his 40s and his girlfriend who basically lived there.

I decided on the place with no windows, called the girls less than two hours later and then waited around. I got news the other two places I had seen that day were gone. And then I waited and waited to hear from the place I had finally decided on! It was ironic that the place that I chose turned out to be with also two indecisive girls... Frustrating on the other side (I finally hear from them more than 48 hours later that I could have had the room).

In the meantime I ended up finding the place that I wanted in the West Village. It was an open house so I had to act really, really interested and positive so that after meeting 10 people she would remember me and choose me. I even got there 10 minutes early!

While I was waiting for her to decide, I got word that one of the places I thought would work, the person who took it fell through. I was determined to wait for the one I wanted though and got pushy and called, even though I believed she would keep her word and call later that night.

FINALLY the apartment that I chose and really wanted, chose me too! And now I am no longer homeless and do not want to look for an apartment here again. I am 95% sure that after my sublet is up in August I will never live in the city again.

Other updates:

It is WAY too hot in NYC. I think that I am starting to not like the heat. I can't even imagine what it's like for people who are actually bothered by it physically.

I got a new South American contact and I am hoping to have something set-up for the fall. And I am planning on applying to grad school for fall 2011!

The First Travel Let Down

As far back as I can remember I had always been intrigued by India, it was a foreign world to me- the colors, the people, the animals. I remember the first time I heard about an Indian wedding and the first time that I saw one on TV. Then I moved to Spain and discovered Indian food (an unlikely place to fall in love with it, but it was one of the only vegetarian things I could find!). I had friends go to India and come back with amazing stories about how great it was. So when I decided to travel I knew that I wanted to make India apart of the itinerary and I had a friend there. Perfect.

I had already been gone for 2.5 months when I went to India. The first few days I was jet-lagged and content hanging out with my friends. I had booked a solo 6 days, 5 nights tour to Delhi, Agra and Jaipur and was excited and nervous to be traveling completely alone for the first time.

I survived the near week alone, but that is really all I can say about it. It has taken me several weeks to come to terms with the fact that it is ok to not like everywhere you go. A fact that was hard to accept when I had such high expectations of a country. The things I imagined were not true. The people were rude, stared relentlessly, didn't respect a single woman, do not take no for an answer, I felt like I couldn't go anywhere without a guide or driver, foreign tourists are overcharged for everything and the most heartbreaking of all, the food made me really sick.

India taught me an important lesson, that you don't have to like everywhere you go and not every trip can be amazing. Sometimes things just don't meet your expectations and I am only now coming to terms with it. I am sure that this will not be the first time that this happens and I will more easily accept it the next time!

Let downs are always balanced out with places you end really liking a place that you really didn't expect to enjoy as much as you did, such as Israel! (Even with a 3-day migraine!)

And I do still want to see an Indian wedding...

(As an FYI, the time I spent with my friend's family was great and hanging out, it's just not what I expected the country to be like. And the Taj Mahal was freaking amazing too!)

Other Updates:

I start Spanish class on Monday, have set-up a volunteer orientation and have scheduled 4 meetings with people to talk about my professional future! I also met a co-worker of my mom's who has contacts in Peru and Ecuador who has offered to pass around my resume!

Things are coming along!

The Caste System?

Since I am currently not really travelling anymore, it is hard to think of good topics when I am not riding elephants and camels and trying to figure out what the heck is going on every five minutes.

While I was in India there were a lot of people who mentioned the caste system. I asked someone if they had seen a lot of India and they said "no not really, because of my caste". I was pretty shocked to say the least that the caste system was so prevalent still. The guy also told me that in his caste, "people were intellectual, you know like professors and doctors, etc".

The caste system in India is still alive and well. I was looking at the newspaper and instead of classifieds, there are huge sections devoted to finding brides/grooms and it is wholly unlike (what I think) dating sites in the USA are like. They put everything out there such as, they are light skinned (important to the caste system in India), thin, height, job, caste, etc. There is no walking on the beach and candlelit dinners fluff.

Most marriages in India are still arranged, so these ads are helping to find not love, but a good match for sons and daughters whose parents were not able to secure them a prior suitable match.

It got me thinking about the caste system and if it exists at all in the rest of the world. Not being racist or thinking anything negative about interracial marriage or gay marriage or whatever. Really I think you should do what you want, I don't personally see the effects as much between race.

Where I think that it comes into account more is socioeconomic factors. Would everyone really accept if I married that Mickey D's fry guy? What about the guy that aspires to be a manager at Safeway? You can't help who you fall in love with, but would everyone else be ok with it?

I can't imagine my mom or my family really condoning a marriage that I would be struggling to make ends meet and someone without goals that my family understands i.e. college educated, grad school, "real" job, being able to support themselves and a marriage.

Really aren't there castes in the western world as well? There are stories about people from different backgrounds- rich and poor falling in love and how their families are always ok with it in the end and everyone lives happily ever after. But would this really happen?

I am not trying to rag on the people who work hard for a living and trust me I understand that it is hard to find a job (I graduated with honors in molecular biology and had to settle for a bank teller job), I just think that although most people find it shocking that the caste system exists, the USA and the western world is not immune to it.

Just some random thoughts from the last week. I am really not intending to offend anyone, I was just thinking about this.

Other Updates:

I am currently searching for a summer sublet in NYC until the end of August or so. I signed up for a Spanish class and will start later this month to position myself better to move to Colombia in the fall if that is still what happens (still the plan). Either way it is really important to me to learn more!